The Library of Congress estimates that while 164,000 black and white negatives (and 107,000 prints) from this effort are in its collection, there are just 1600 color images (only a selection are digitized).

There are 1, 610 color images in the collection which date from between 1939 and 1945. They were produced under the auspices of the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and the Office of War Information (OWI). Most of the 644 images produced by the FSA are 35 mm Kodachrome slides; a few are color transparencies in sizes up to 4×5 inches. These photographs depict life in the United States, including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, with an emphasis on rural areas and farm labor. The 965 images from the OWI are color transparencies in sizes up to 4×5 inches. These photographs focus on industrial facilities and women employees, railroads, aviation training, and other aspects of the mobilization effort for World War II.

All images courtesy of the Library of Congress’s American Memory Collection. Digital IDs and photographers’ names accompany photos’ captions.

Boys fishing in a bayou, Schriever, La. Cajun children in a bayou near the school. Terrebonne, a Farm Security Administration project. LC-DIG-fsac-1a34362 DLC. By Marion Post Wolcott

Natchez, Miss., 1940. fsac 1a34333. By Marion Post Wolcott

Shepherd with his horse and dog on Gravelly Range, Madison County, Montana, 1942. fsac 1a35022. By Russell Lee

Federal housing project on the outskirts of the town of Yauco, Puerto Rico, 1942. fsac 1a34039. By Jack Delano

Worker inspecting a locomotive on a pit in the roundhouse at the C & NW RR's Proviso yard, Chicago, Ill., 1942. fsac 1a34652. By Jack Delano

Retiring a locomotive driver wheel, Shopton, Iowa. The tire is heated by means of gas until it can be slipped over the wheel. Contraction on cooling will hold it firmly in place. Santa Fe R.R., 1943. fsac 1a34707. By Jack Delano